The bike alarm is triggered by motion. It’s a standard off-the-shelf seat tube bike alarm, armed/disarmed by a fob. My modification was to beef up the output power to operate the flashing lights, motor shorting relay, sonalert, and the time-delayed electric theft deterrent. I can’t be shocked unless I’m riding around for 30 seconds with lights flashing, alarm blasting, and the motor acting as a regenerative brake. That’s why there’s a time delay.

There’s also an Airtag in the seat, but I’d rather deter the thief than have to track down the bike.

Install a bike alarm inside the seat tube. They’re hard to defeat without tools. Mine alternately flashes bright blue and red light strips epoxied to the frame. In California, that’s a guaranteed police stop (blue lights are only allowed on law enforcement vehicles), plus it makes everyone look at the thief. There’s also a relay that shorts out the motor, making it a bitch to pedal. If that and the 120 dB alarm doesn’t stop them, 30 seconds later two metal strips under the seat fabric get powered from a 55 kV mosquito zapper circuit.

Biden needs to start putting up billboards with these Trump quotes, referring folks to his “trumpsucks.com” website, which now simply redirects to the “joebiden.com” website.

That low-res picture of the suspect is why Walmart has such a problem with theft. Meanwhile, Sam’s Club has 4k cameras on either side of the entrance and the exit. Same parent company.

Perhaps the voltage regulator in your alternator is throwing a big voltage spike on the 12V supply, killing your adapters. There are large capacitors made for car audio that will stop spikes. Try one of those.

You would have been covered in ketchup.

Yes, AI contribution is an area that needs legal clarification. I know you brought the question up for graphic arts, but the same thing is happening with music. I can use an AI tool to generate tracks, tweak them to my taste, then supply lyrics that are also at least partially generated by AI. But if I never admit that I used AI, it’s probably impossible to detect.

What makes this really interesting is that entertainment industry workers went on strike partly because of AI fears, yet would the resulting productions be copyrightable?

I’m a bit confused. If I use AI to generate an image, then modify it, can I claim copyright? And how would anyone know if I used an AI? I know there are telltale signs that computer algorithms were involved, so I guess the question is how much does the artist have to contribute before it’s no longer considered non-human art? Or does any use of AI tools invalidate the copyright?

Me: I wish I could stop paying taxes. Genie: poof Wish granted! Me: Woah…I don’t feel so good! Genie: It’s a fatal heart attack.

I don’t know how much your electric rate is, but a router or server that sucks down a hundred watts 24 hours a day may be a concern. An arcade machine would be my choice.

Home and garden center, hardware store, or Amazon.

Use bug bomb(s) first to kill the existing spiders. Then apply permethrin diluted with water to a 0.5% solution, spraying at all entry paths to the garage, edges, and dark areas.

The idea is to not just prevent spiders from returning. It’s also to deprive them of a reason to return by removing their food supply. Permethrin is a wide-spectrum insecticide and repellant. It has very low toxicity to humans, most mammals, and birds. Not good around cats or fish. It has good persistence (6-8 weeks).

You may get your wish sooner than later. He’s still under the gag order, and he’s violating it again.

Trump’s conviction isn’t going to be the big turning point of this election. What happens after his conviction will. If he continues to spew vitriol about the judge, prosecution, and jury, eventually one of his followers will commit an act of retribution. That puts Trump in a difficult spot, because his core likes this kind of stuff. He will want to show his support, but if he does, it will again show he encourages domestic terrorism. If he does anything other than condemn the attack, his support among moderates will fall away, just like it did after Jan. 6th. If he does condemn the attack, his core may protest, like they did when he changed his opinion on the COVID vaccines.

I was with you up until you decided to hide under the insulation. Seriously? I start scratching just looking at the stuff!

Best outcome would be if Merchan gives him 4 years of probation, just in case he wins the election. That turns into prison time if he commits another crime.

My house is built on an old vertical mineshaft. I’d take the secret elevator to the bunker 300 feet below ground where my command center is. Then I’d take control of the gun emplacements hidden in the trees and the fleet of AI enhanced drones. When the agents are eliminated, the robotic dogs will drag the bodies to the incinerator shaft.

Or maybe not. You didn’t think I’d really tell you what awaits you Agent CraigOhMyEggo, did you?

If it’s just one room, use a tower air purifier. Mine is set up in my workshop at a window. I cut a piece of fiberboard to adapt the purifier to the window frame, but cardboard works.

I like this method better than the box fan/filter combo because it provides greater air flow and removes pretty much everything with the HEPA and carbon filters. It’s saving my sanity right now with all the pine tree pollen and smoke from debris pile burning.

For a whole home, place a window fan in one room pointing out. Then put air filters in the windows of other rooms. This has the benefit of keeping the noisy fan in an unoccupied room while you’re trying to sleep. Alternatively, if you have an attic, you can get a fan that fits the attic access. This works better because you’ll be cooling your attic as well. You can also consider a dedicated attic fan which can knock 10 degrees off the inside temperature on a hot day.

Look up how to debate. Success is not measured by how bad you make the opponent look. That may work on one person, but you have to repeat it for every person who advances the same argument. Instead, take apart their argument, reveal underlying motives, expose untruths with irrefutable documentation, uncover false logic and bad assumptions, and respond without attacking the messenger.

For instance, “The economy is terrible! Everything is so expensive.” Well, stuff -is- expensive. But is the economy really the reason behind it? The US stock indexes are at record highs. Most companies have been beating the expected earnings per share. Isn’t it more likely that things are expensive because companies are taking more profit to give to their shareholders? Which candidate do you believe is more inclined to change that?

The object is not to defeat the opponent. It’s to prevent others from being convinced by their arguments.

Keep doing what I have been doing - dragging MAGA fence sitters back from the brink one by one. The ones who have adopted Trumpism as their religion are too far gone. But there are a lot who just need to be taken by the hand and shown a better path.

When you see MAGA BS, challenge it with well-reasoned arguments. The object really isn’t to change the mind of the poster. It’s to prevent them from changing the minds of others.